One for thought
One for thought
I don’t normally leave reviews/ feedback on any site whether good or bad, however I feel on this occasion this one justified.
Recently had my car in for a timing belt and water pump change with a cost of £996.50 parts and labour.
Labour cost was charged @ 6 hours @ £96.00-10% £518.40 and 0.20 hours @ £96.00 £19.20
Total labour cost £537.60 + VAT
£645.12
Car dropped off first thing, received a call just after lunch time to say the car would be ready for collection after 3.30pm.
Car collected, bill paid.
I was told to check the coolant level when I got home (less than a five minute drive) just in case it had air in the system after the work was carried out and may need topping up. Which I did and topped it up as instructed.
All good to this point
First drive out around twenty minutes and I noticed steam coming from the bonnet and the car starting to overheat at which point I pulled up at a safe place and called the RAC.
Problem diagnosed, a hose that was took off to have the work carried out was pushed back on and whoever carried out the work failed to secure it back in place with the clamp. Hose blow (photographic evidence and RAC report) off loss of coolant.
Now this got me wondering if such a simple task such as a hose clamp can be missed what else could have been overlooked, was it rushed through, was the work actually carried out.
Having received the call at around lunch time to say the car would be ready for collection after 3.30pm got me thinking, how he would know.
Now the interesting bit, the car is fitted with a live tracker system that records a number of parameters, i.e.; on, off, in motion, stationary, locked etc. So I decided to look up the log and map data for the day.
Car went into workshop at 8.54.13
Test drive at 12.20.59
End test drive at 12.30.20
Parked and locked outside in a parking bay.
Total time 3 hours 36 minutes
Now for a shop that charges £96.00 + VAT per hour that’s quite an over charged amount wouldn’t you say.
Car is now at a main dealer looking over the work that may or may not have been carried out or missed.